Is it true that the lifeboats were designed to be loaded from the A deck promenade?

[David Clayton]

I remember a piece of Titanic trivia that the boats were meant to be loaded from the A deck promenade, but the keys for the forward windows were lost, which was why lifeboat 4 didn’t leave for a long time. I suppose it makes sense as if the davits had multiple boats each, passengers would have to walk over those boats to reach the swing out boats on the Boat Deck. I just want to verify this with the experts. Thanks in advance.

 

[Ioannis Georgiou]

I remember a piece of Titanic trivia that the boats were meant to be loaded from the A deck promenade, but the keys for the forward windows were lost, which was why lifeboat 4 didn’t leave for a long time.

There were no keys which were lost. The glass were lowered by a spanner to lower the glass.

I suppose it makes sense as if the davits had multiple boats each, passengers would have to walk over those boats to reach the swing out boats on the Boat Deck. I just want to verify this with the experts. Thanks in advance.

Only the fist set had a double boat. And even there it was no real problem.

 

[David Clayton]

Only the fist set had a double boat. And even there it was no real problem.

Sorry, I don’t think I made myself clear. I meant to say if all the Welin davits had 2,3 or 4 boats each as originally designed.